Books in Brief: The Best of Rilke, translated by Walter Arndt

The Best of Rilke, translated by Walter Arndt, foreword by Cyrus Hamlin (University Press of New England, 192 pp., $17.95)

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) was one of the most important poets of the European modernist movement. He underwent a poetic sea-change analogous to that of Yeats —from an 1890s aestheticism to a complex, original voice. There have been many Rilke translations, especially of the Duino Elegies and the Sonnets to Orpheus, but Walter Arndt’s may be the best introduction to the master’s work. Rilke’s original German is printed on the left page, Arndt’s English translation on the right, permitting the reader to make comparisons, evaluations, and even decisions. One of the very greatest modernist poems is Rilke’s “Der Panther.” In an appendix, Arndt provides a brilliant discussion of the decisions he made translating this poem about the imprisoned self, the buried life, exemplified by a caged panther in the zoo at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. “His gaze has been so worn by the procession / Of bars that it no longer makes a bond . . .” The volume includes a brief biography, and an academic introduction by Cyrus Hamlin of Yale. Skip Hamlin; meet Rilke.

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Jeffrey Hart

Jeffrey Hart is a contributor to National Review.

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The Best of Rilke, translated by Walter Arndt, foreword by Cyrus Hamlin (University Press of New England, 192 pp., $17.95)

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) was one of the most important poets of the European modernist movement. He underwent a poetic sea-change analogous to that of Yeats —from an 1890s aestheticism to a complex, original voice. There have been many Rilke translations, especially of the Duino Elegies and the Sonnets to Orpheus, but Walter Arndt’s may be the best introduction to the master’s work. Rilke’s original German is printed on the left page, Arndt’s English translation on the right, permitting the reader to make comparisons, evaluations, and even decisions. One of the very greatest modernist poems is Rilke’s “Der Panther.” In an appendix, Arndt provides a brilliant discussion of the decisions he made translating this poem about the imprisoned self, the buried life, exemplified by a caged panther in the zoo at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. “His gaze has been so worn by the procession / Of bars that it no longer makes a bond . . .” The volume includes a brief biography, and an academic introduction by Cyrus Hamlin of Yale. Skip Hamlin; meet Rilke.